Daisy Bates Papers

Members of Aboriginal communities are advised that this listing contains images and names of deceased persons. Some titles have been transcribed from original items and reflect attitudes of the time.

Contents summary

These listings have been derived from descriptions and folder titles provided by Daisy Bates, with some additional explanatory notes. The box and series numbers given are those assigned by the Library for current retrieval and reference; the numbers given in square brackets are those originally assigned by Bates or by the Library in a previous listing.

The personal, tribe and language names used by Bates are not consistent and may not accord with current nomenclature.

Digitised Works

Selections from the Daisy Bates' Papers are being digitised and are available through the Daisy Bates Digital ArchiveThe Barr Smith Library recognises the moral rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the owners of their knowledge. To this end, Special Collections is digitising the Daisy Bates Papers in our collections to enhance access for people who cannot travel to Adelaide. Please be aware that this site may contain sensitive information, including the names and images of people who have passed away and which may sadden and distress some Aboriginal people. This site may also contain language and terms used by an author that reflect an inappropriate attitude due to the historical context in which these records were created.

Box 1 Lists and Myths, legends, stories and vocabularies

Series 1:Lists of Bates manuscripts and booksInclude general lists and a list of collections compiled as the basis for a proposed publication on The native tribes of Western Australia sent to the publisher John Murray in London.

Series 2:‘Native Testaments of old natives’Personal memoirs, stories and songs, principally relating to the individuals and tribes of the south and south-west. Informants include Ngilgee/Ngilgi, Jubaitch/Joobytch , Nebinyan, Woolber, Banyap, Genburdong and Jaal. 15 items, typescript and manuscript.

Bibbulmum. The story of the Bibbulmum races and the tragic story of natives. Two typescript drafts, with a few ms. amendments. 4, 4p.

Ngilgi. An aboriginal woman's life story (published in the West Australian, 23/3/1935) 4p.

Series 3:‘Odd stories’On customs and firestick ceremony of the south-west and Eucla. Item 3 includes a name lists of people to whom clothing and rations given at Eucla, and words and place names from mission natives at Koonibba. 4 items, typescript and original newspaper cuttings.

Manja Boming - firestick ceremony - south west. Typescript. 6p.

Three fine customs - Babbingur. Typescript. Part of p.1 + p.3-4.

Natives: information from Eucla notebook. Typescript, with ms. notes and corrections. 31 whole and part pages.

The noble dingo, by Robert Kaleski. Newspaper clippings of 2 articles from the West Australian.

Series 4:Vocabularies [and name lists]Broome area and Central Australia. Vocabularies supplied by Billinggi and Mulgarongu, and vocabulary book in Jookan or Ngoombal dialect (Broome speech). 13 items, manuscript and typescript.

Series 5:‘Notes not for legends or included in Aborigines: Odd notes only’Include notes on Swan River pronouns; on Bibbulmun language; ‘Yongajarra [Yonguljarra] family tree’; Murray River people; Ooldea names; hymn in ‘Beagle Bay language’; biographical information on Bates herself (in ‘record of service for the aborigines of Central Australia’); and notes by others. 21 items, manuscript and typescript with some newspaper cuttings.

Suggestions for the betterment of aborigines and castes. Typescript, with ms. corrections. 23p.

Record of service for the aborigines of Central Australia... ms. 14p.

Précis: "for which I received quiet unofficial approval..." ms. p.2-6.

8 miscellaneous press clippings : Problem for Whyalla engineers, Citizen rights for natives, Charges of cruelty to aborigines, Control of aborigines, Leichhardt's last expedition, Poems and rhymes, Land and other property for sale (?), Mrs. Napier Banks.

"Pethar Dooley's commentary on America's responsibilities..." ms. 1p.

"Courtesy & good manners..." ms. 1p. (From Belfast news)

The pioneers: H.M. in Spectator. ms. 1p.

Middle men and Government "Burrows". ms. 5p.

The blue or fairy wren: poem. Typescript, with ms. notes from the author - J.F.T., 19/9/28.

The house that Jack built : poem. Typescript. 2p.

Series 6:‘Possibly short stories’ [Ngargalulla/Ngargalula (spirit babies) legends]Includes stories from the north-west and south-west, Esperance, North Kimberley, Willilambi/Willambi (Twilight Cove), Sunday Island and Broome, a number supplied by Billingee. 22 items (some with duplicates), typescript, with some newspaper cuttings.

N.B. Many of the photographs listed in Daisy Bates manuscript lists in series 1 are not held. No files are held for the Gascoyne, Ashburton, Nullagine and Pt. Hedland area, the Eastern Goldfields or the Eucla, Esperance and Bight area, or of the Carvings, Paintings etc. [III, VIII XI and XIII in original list] and only a few are held for many other districts. There is evidence from Bates’ annotations of her lists that some were sent to Lord Salisbury in December 1936 and that others were noted as missing by her in 1938, after they were collected for possible inclusion in her book ‘The passing of the Aborigines’.

10.1 Copies of letters sent 1930-44, including to George Robertson 1930 re possible publication of her myths and legends - see item listing10.2 Letters received 1929, 1945-47 and undated - see item listing10.3 Letters from Bates (at Ooldea) to the Commonwealth Railways Office at Port Augusta, 1931-32 10.4 Draft agreement with publisher John Murray re publication of ‘My Natives and I’ [published as The passing of the aborigines] 1938 10.5 Fragments of letters and envelopes

Series 11:Certificates and medals

OBE medal and certificate; certificates of appointment as a Justice of the Peace (South Australia 1920, Western Australia 1926); certificates of appointment as Protector of Natives 1942, 1943 and 1946, with accompanying lists of protectors; set of King George VI coronation medals (1937) and King George and Queen Mary silver jubilee medals (1935); reply from Buckingham Palace to message of sympathy on the death of the Duke of Kent; official letter of thanks August 1940 for donation of gold wedding ring to the war effort.

Boxes 3 - 8 Series 12 Manuscript of ‘Native tribes of Western Australia’

The Manuscript was divided by Bates into 13 sections, plus further sections for source material contained in ‘Notebooks’, ‘Newspaper and Magazine articles’ and ‘Collection of Books and Pamphlets’, for each of which she provided detailed file (and sometimes item) lists. In this revision the arrangement with the original 13 sub-divisions has been retained, but has been assigned the general Series number 12. The term ‘Manuscript’ is perhaps misleading as this is neither a manuscript nor a polished text but rather a compilation of materials in typescript, some in various revisions. A note dated November 1940 by Bates on the first folder states this to be a correct re-typing of all her original matter (the manuscript original and copy being in the Commonwealth Archives, Canberra), as copied for [the publisher] John Murray and housed in the Bank of Australasia in Adelaide.

‘Miscellanea: from early records; treating of passing of native peoples etc.; Early writers on aborigines, etc.

Box 8

Box 8 Series 13. Maps

Copies of maps of Western Australia, showing geographical distribution and social organization of tribes, where dialects were obtained, totems and, for part of the Murchison River area, the nomenclature of waters, food areas, camping spots and variations in group area names. 5 items.

The originals of these maps were sent to the publisher John Murray to accompany the manuscript of ‘The native tribes of Western Australia’. The first three comprise printed maps with Bates’ information overlaid; the latter two are manuscripts, with no topographical or other background information. The copies are very poor and detail is very difficult to read.

Box 9 Series 14. Notebooks

‘Extracts from my earliest notebooks 1900-1935 when in residence at various camps or travelling and lingering in areas where derelicts were to be found’ [Western Australia and South Australia]

Note that these are in fact not the original notebooks but typed extracts from them, collecting together notes on the various districts and/or from particular informants. For some districts the information is extensive, covering names, genealogies, vocabularies, stories, observations and questions, notes on social relations, rainfall data, descriptions of vegetation and songs, but in many cases the information is very limited.

Note: ‘notebooks’ 4b. (East of Laverton), 5a. (Eucla and Southern district), 10 (Peak Hill, Tuckanarra) and 11a. (Northern districts, sundries) in original Bates listing were missing in a survey of the collection in 1980. Copies of the first three are held in the National Library collection as folios 67/111-140, 68/76-91 and 68/219-274, 71/47-48; the listed 11a. does not appear to be held by them.

Series 15.‘Books and pamphlets which have been annotated’Extracts from works by other writers on Aboriginal peoples, languages and other topics, with comments by Bates. A few of the works are in their original printed form but for most there are only typed extracts of the page or section sufficient to identify the passage commented upon by Bates. 25 items - see Bates item listing

The following series, Series 16-20, comprise articles contributed by Bates to various journals and newspapers. For each of these series there are item listings and, for series 16 and 18-2, also an additional single classified list of items relevant to the subject of sections II to XIII of Bates’ Manuscript.

Series 16:Articles contributed [by Bates] to science magazine, journals and other papers. 1901-1923.Comprising variously reprints, complete issues of the relevant magazine or pages torn from it, and typescripts. 26 items. see item listing and classified list

Box 10

Series 17: Articles contributed to children’s newspapers. 1921-1939.As published in The children’s newspaper, My magazine and Arthur Mee’s 1000 heroes and comprising variously cuttings from the papers, typescripts and occasionally a whole issue. see item listing

Series 19:Articles contributed to major newspapers: Western Mail and West Australian. 1904-36.Western Mail 1904-29, 1936 [serial ‘My natives and I’] and undated West Australian 1906-35 and undated. see item listing and classified list

Box 11

Series 20:Articles contributed to major newspapers: The Australasian. 1910-33 and undated.see item listing and classified list

Series 21: Church of England Book of Common Prayer and Hymns ancient and modern. 1901?Bates’ copy, presented by her to the 1st Glen Osmond Girl Guides.